Boehner gives ‘pre-buttal’ to Obama speech

By SEUNG MIN KIM

06/14/2012 10:24 AM EDT

President Barack Obama is hitting Speaker John Boehner’s home state of Ohio today for what’s been billed as a major economic speech, and the nation’s top elected Republican is out with a video “pre-butting” the president’s remarks.

The clip itself is not a full-throated attack on the president; Boehner only mentions Obama once in the 1 minute, 15 second video. Rather, it highlights what House Republicans have already done so far in the 112th Congress – a stack of bills lying in the Senate that the GOP argues would help boost the economy.

“[The latest] unemployment report was a real punch in the gut,” Boehner says. “Americans are again left asking the question, ‘Where are the jobs?’ Republicans have pledged to listen. We’ve pledged to act. And we have.”

“This isn’t just our work, it’s your work in progress,” Boehner adds. “You see, we’re gonna keep adding to this pile and we’re gonna keep calling on President Obama and Democrats in the Senate to give these jobs bills a vote.”

In the video, Boehner is shown with copies of several of the 30-plus House-passed bills – a line that has been a rallying mantra for congressional Republicans this year. In tandem, Boehner’s office released a blog post that lays out a sharper attack on Obama and what they view as a “pivot to nothing” amid an economy still suffering a jobless rate above 8 percent.

“President Obama hasn’t prodded the Senate – or his own administration – to act, first saying the private sector is ‘doing fine’ and now giving an economic speech that lacks economic proposals,” the post reads. “That’s because his team ‘made clear they don't see many fresh options,’ and the president appears to be, well, doing fine with that.”

Boehner isn’t the only prominent Ohioan out early before Obama speaks in Cleveland later today. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a top vice presidential pick for Mitt Romney, also penned a POLITICO op-ed that castigated the president over his economic policies.

“President Barack Obama correctly points out that he inherited this recession,” writes Portman, a budget director under Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush. “But the question is: What did he do with it? His policies, unfortunately, have failed to turn things around.